Abstract

Batticaloa is one of the foremost paddy producing districts in Sri Lanka which occupies the 6th place in paddy production and contributes 4.9 percent to Gross Domestic production. In Batticaloa districts, farmers are engaged on both owner-cultivated land and tenant -cultivated land. When comparing owner-cultivated land and tenant -cultivated land, there are significant facilities which need to be considered as the availability to gain the assistance regarding paddy farming which are feasible to only who holds the land ownership. Therefore, the absence of ownership may become as barriers in accessing government assistance which could lead to the difference in obtaining yield. In this context, the study examined the difference of yield between tenant - cultivated land and owner- cultivated land and explored the factors which influence on technical efficiency. The study is established on primary data, which was gathered during the 2015/16 paddy Maha season by a structured questionnaire in Batticaloa district. Four hundred samples of farmers were selected on a combination of snow ball sampling and random sampling technique. The gathered data were analyzed by using stochastic frontier production function and Tobit model. The results reveal that, yield of paddy on tenant -cultivated land was not less, compare to owner- cultivated land as since there is a slight difference between tenant - cultivated land and owner- cultivated land in term of yield. It may be concluded that even if there is absence of ownership among tenant cultivated land, it does not lead to reduce more paddy yield it may attributed due to the provision of tenancy givers to tenancy takers.